Some things never change.
Pilate asked him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.’ Pilate asked him, ‘What is truth?’
(John 18: 37-38a)
On its face, Pilate's question is a perfectly good one, a fertile and familiar ground for philosophical dispute. But here, Pilate is not indulging in some open-ended epistemological skepticism. He's not curious about truth, but dismissive of it. In effect, he's saying "Truth? Forget the truth! I've got the power to decide if you live or die. Give me the answers I need to do my job."
Pilate is concerned with upholding his own authority and the prerogatives of the empire he serves. The truth--reality--is at best neutral with respect to those prerogatives, at worst an impudent intrusion upon them. For Pilate, understanding the conflict going on around him during that Passover feast was beside the point; he needed only to defuse it so it presented no threat to his power. It appears his was not a reality-based administration.
Perhaps that tendency is endemic to the political classes. They certainly have given it an enduring home.
Tags: Good Friday; Religion; Politics
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